At Least 4 Mountain Lions Sighted at O’Neill Park

There have been four and possibly five more sightings of mountain lions in recent days at O’Neill Regional Park in Trabuco Canyon, an Orange County parks official said Tuesday. The park has been closed to visitors because of the big cats for more than two weeks.

Tim Miller, manager of the county’s regional parks facilities, said rangers saw a young cougar Monday morning about three-quarters of a mile from the main gate on Live Oak Canyon Road.

The same day, a canyon resident watched a small lion cross Live Oak Canyon Road and enter the park, Miller said, adding that the animal may have been one of two cubs spotted with their mother from a state Department of Fish and Game helicopter a few days earlier.

O’Neill has been closed to the public since Dec. 26, when numerous lion tracks were found in and near heavily used picnic areas. Miller said parks officials hope to ask the Board of Supervisors for permission to reopen the popular wooded site in about a month.

Miller said the board would be asked to adopt restrictions similar to those imposed at Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park east of San Juan Capistrano, where two children were mauled by mountain lions last year.

At the 7,500-acre Caspers Park, which was closed after a 6-year-old Huntington Beach boy was mauled Oct. 19 and which reopened Jan. 2, children are now barred from all but designated picnic areas and a visitors’ center near the park entrance. Even in those areas, youngsters must be under the close supervision of an adult.

Adults may use hiking trails or camp sites only in groups of two or more and must sign a document stating that they are aware of the potential dangers posed by cougars and other wildlife.

“Tentatively, the new rules for O’Neill will be similar,” Miller said.